USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Seymour > Seymour, past and present > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
T st
10
apo
tere
243
BIOGRAPHY.
JOHN TODD WHEELER
Was the son of John Wheeler of Nyumphs. When twenty years of age he located in Humphreysville and followed the vocation of merchant until within a few years of his death.
His only child, a son, John C. Wheeler, at an early age en- tered into business with him; was a merchant and manufacturer of augers and paper for many years, until he removed to the city of New York, where his youngest son, John Wheeler, born in Hum- phreysville in 1823, removed to New York in 1843, and was in 1852 elected to Congress and took an active part in the exciting times upon the question of the Repeal of the "Missouri Compromise," otherwise called the "Kansas and Nebraska bill," in the 33d Con- gress. Upon its being made a party question, admitting slavery north of Missouri, he, with a few other Democrats, took bold and open ground against it, and was the only member from the city of New York (of six Democrats) who voted against the bill. He was re-elected to the 34th Congress-was renominated by the Democra- cy in 1856 for the 35th Congress, but declined; was a War Demo- crat when it required nerve so to be; was a strong opponent of the Tweed Ring, going out of Tammany Hall and joining with the hon- est portion of the Democracy and other citizens for their over- throw. He was one of the most active of the famous Committee of Seventy which overthrew that infamous ring, was one of the leaders in the movement which elected William H. Havemeyer Mayor, and one of the men who obtained from the Legislature at Albany the charter of 1873. On the passage of that charter Mayor Havemeyer appointed him president of the department of taxes and assessments, one of the board of estimate and apportionment, and a commissioner of accounts, which positions he has held from May, 1873, for over six years, doing his utinost for a reduction of the expenses and taxes of the city. He was prominently named among the candidates by the regular Democracy and independent citizens in 1878 for Mayor, but declined to enter the contest.
CAPT. HENRY WOOSTER
Was born in what is now Seymour in 1802. His father, grand- father and great-grandfather were all named Henry and were all residents of this vicinity. Captain Wooster followed the sea, sail- ing between New Haven and the West Indies. He married Harriet, daughter of Joseph Riggs, of Oxford. Their children were : Har- riet, Henry, Olive, Cecilia and Leslie B. Henry was lost at sea
244
SEYMOUR PAST AND PRESENT.
and Leslie B. met his death at the hands of the Indians in Arizona .. Captain Wooster died in 1842.
THOMAS JAMES.
Thomas James was born in Swansea, Wales, Aug. 2, 1817. He was instructed in all branches of copper smelting, his father and grandfather having been skilled in that business, the latter having been one of the first smelters at the "White Rock" smelting works, which were completed in 1744. He came to this country in 1838, and entered the employ of Phelps, Dodge & Co., and commenced work in their mill at Derby, where he remained until 1847, when he removed to Ansonia, where the company had built a new mill.
After the Humphreysville Copper Co. was organized Raymond French persuaded Mr. James to come to Seymour in 1848 and take charge of the mill. He remained in charge through all the changes and when in 1874 the New Haven Copper Company was reorganized he was one of the principal stockholders and was elected president of the company, and this position he continued to hold until he re- signed it in favor of his son, Thomas L. James, and was elected treasurer, which office he held until his death. He was a man of energy and ability, and of sterling integrity.
Mr. James was always earnest in advocating better schools and providing better opportunities for the children of the town to ob- tain a more advanced education, and indeed he was at the front in every enterprise that tended to improve the town.
He was one of the organizers of Christ Episcopal church of An- sonia, and after removing to Seymour he united with Trinity Epis- copal church, of which he was a vestryman for a number of years and gave liberally to its support. He died July 4, 1887, aged 70 years.
HORACE B. WOOSTER,
H. B. Wooster, the original architect of the Seymour Manu- facturing Company's works, was born in Naugatuck in 1827 and re- sided there until 1860, when he removed to Waterbury, where he was connected with the Waterbury Brass Company for eighteen years. While there he was one of the trustees of the M. E. church and a member of the city council.
In the fall of 1879 he came to Seymour as one of the stock- holders of the Seymour Manufacturing Company and superintended the construction of the works which he had planned.
245
BIOGRAPHY.
As a public man his influence was on the side of temperance and good order. He was elected a justice of the peace in 1882, a position for which he was eminently qualified, by his knowledge of law and general information, and by his sense of justice and the in- tegrity of his character. He was a trustee of the Methodist Epis- copal church in Seymour for several years and was also highly esteemed as a class leader. He died July 26, 1883.
AUSTIN GOODYEAR DAY,
The inventor of Kerite and other useful combinations of India rubber, was born in West Springfield, Mass., Nov. 24, 1834. De- scended from the primitive stock of the early New England settlers, his education was carefully looked after, and early showing a pe- culiar fondness for study and investigation, he was prepared in the district school for his academic studies, with the view to enter col- lege. But in 1840 his cousin, Charles Goodyear-who afterwards acquired fame and fortune in the India rubber business- made a visit to young Day's father and took him to Northampton, where he first saw the process of manufacturing rubber goods.
This incident determined his pursuit for life. Through his love of study he returned to Westfield Academy purposing to acquire a classical education, but in 1851 his cousin, Mr. Goodyear, prevailed
246
SEYMOUR
PAST AND PRESENT.
upon him to come to his factory at Woburn, Mass., as correspon -. dent and bookkeeper, but spent much of his time in the study of India rubber-its physicial and chemical qualities, and the processes of its manufacture. Soon afterwards he went into a new factory at Springfield for the special purpose of perfecting the vulcanizing process. From this point dates the commercial success of the India rubber business.
Mr. Day continued in the employment of Mr. Goodyear for several years, instructing the workmen in the various factories set up, and conducting a vast number of experiments in the process of vulcanizing rubber.
While at the Roxbury factory he made the acquaintance of Prof. Hayes, afterward state assayer for Massachusetts, which proved of great value to him. It was under the general directions, and often the close inspection of the Professor, that Mr. Day now prosecuted many of his experiments, with new ardor and this long and varied course of experiments were of the highest importance in their bearing upon his later discoveries. Visiting all the India rub- ber factories, he not only rendered most important service in im- proving the processes of manufacture, but he acquired a more thorough knowledge of the business than perhaps any other man.
In 1854 Mr. Day bought a factory in Seymour, from Bassett & Hodge, removing his business he had begun in New Haven, and having invented a new compound, called Kerite, for the insulation of electric wires, he built up a plant for the manufacture of electric cables for telegraph and other purposes. This building was burned in March, 1864. The pencil work was moved to the brick shop southwest of the pin factory, now owned by the New Haven Cop- per Co., until the factory could be rebuilt. This was completed in March, 1865, and the lower floors used for the submarine telegraph works, while the upper part was retained for the manufacture of the hard rubber pencils and pen holders, which has been carried on by his brothers, H. P. and E. Day. Mr. A. G. Day continued in this business here until his death, Dec. 28, 1889.
JOHN H. TINGUE,
To whose enterprise Seymour owes the establishment of the exten- sive works of the Tingue Manfacturing Company, was born at Fort Plain, N. Y., in 1834. His early life was spent in New York City, in mercantile business. In 1880 he came to Seymour and estab- lished here the manufacture of plush, which had previously been
an
hrs
ha
= res bord.
247
BIOGRAPHY.
made only in Europe. Here he gathered about him skillful me- chanics and developed various processes of manufacture which pro- duced the elegant plushes in new and ever-varying designs at great- ly reduced cost, and a highly prosperous business was the result.
Mr. Tingue was widely known for his generosity and especially for his collection of buttons, at a cost of about $4,000, which he presented to the state and which may be seen at the capitol at Hart- ford. He died April 11, 1885.
SHARON Y. BEACH.
Sharon Y Beach was born in North Haven, May 21, 1809, a son of Giles Beach and Mary, daughter of Captain Jonathan Dayton, an officer of the Revolutionary war. Four uncles of Sharon Beach, sons of Captain Dayton, served in the company of their father. Benjamin Beach, grandfather of the subject of these lines, was the first settled minister in Seymour, then called Chusetown. Sharon Y. Beach came to Seymour in 1830 and in 1843 went into the paper business. In 1850 he became the sole owner and so continued until a few years before his death, when he gave it up to his sons.
248
SEYMOUR, PAST AND PRESENT.
He was elected justice of the peace while Seymour was a partt of the town of Derby and after the incorporation of this town he was repeatedly elected to that office. He was at different times selectman, member of the board of relief and president of the board of education. He was for two years superintendent of the Congre- gational Sundayschool of Seymour and when the Baptist church was built in Ansonia he became the superintendent of the Sunday- school there, holding that position for six years. He was the first deacon of that church and a constant contributor to its funds.
He left four sons: George W. Beach of Waterbury, superin- tendent of the Naugatuck R. R .; Andrew Y. Beach, merchant, of Seymour ; Sharon D. Beach, superintendent of the Beach Paper Co.'s works ; and T. B. Beach, the Seymour agent of the Nauga- tuck R. R. He died March 27. 1899.
SYLVESTER SMITH
Was for many years a paper manufacturer, his mill being loca- ted at the corner of Main and Day streets. He was one of the lead- ing official members of the M. E. Church and was widely known as a local preacher. At the opening of the war of 1861-5 he was zeal- ous for the prosecution of the war and was elected president of the Union League. In his later years he was appointed to the pastor- ate of churches in the New York East Conference, at Roxbury '81 and '88 to '91, at Lake Grove, L. I., '82 to '84, and at Bakerville '85 to '87. He died in Seymour March 31, 1893.
SAMUEL REYNOLDS HICKOX
Long known as Father Hickox, was born in Torrington Jan. 12, 1790, and married there in 1808. He was a miller by trade and ran a gristmill in Wolcottville and afterward in Waterbury, where he was one of the first and most efficient members of the First Meth- odist church. In 1821 he was licensed as a local preacher and is said to have preached to a large audience, in a ballroom, the first Methodist sermon ever heard in Waterbury. After this he frequently conducted services there. In 1825 he moved to Southbury, and in 1826 was ordained a local deacon by Bishop Hedding, in the old John street church in New York, and was the first pastor of the Union Chapel at Southford.
In 1828 he moved to Humphreysville, where he had charge of the gristmill near the Falls, where the plush mill now stands. He afterward engaged in clock making, bought a place on the south
249
BIOGRAPHY.
side of Pearl street, the third house east of the Methodist parson- age, and built a shop for his clock work. He frequently went to Waterbury and preached there.
He was greatly interested in the building of the Methodist church of 1847 and had a "town clock " put up in the tower. He was the Sundayschool superintendent in 1841-2 and for many years was one of the trustees of the church. He was as a father to the young converts, and his counsels to them and influence over them was of the most beneficial character. He died Mar. 14, 1861.
CAPT. BRADFORD STEELE.
In addition to mention on pages 238-9 it may be said of Capt. Steele, (b. Sept. 22, 1734; d. Apr. 10, 1804, ) that after the closing of the port in Boston a town meeting was held November 29th, 1774, to consider the Continental Congress which had been held in Philadelphia. They resolved to abide by the Congress and appoint- ed Lieutenant Bradford Steele one of the committee to carry it into execution.
He enlisted in the First regiment, the second company from Derby. He was made first Lieutenant and was probably in the battle of Bunker Hill. He served on various committees : of in- spection for Derby, Dec. 11th, 1775 ; to enlist Continental soldiers and pay them their bounty ; to procure soldiers clothing, to inspect provisions, etc. He took the oath of fidelity Sept. 16th, 1775. Dec. 25th, 1780, he was appointed to collect the rate and assess- ment to raise recruits for the army. He marched as Lieutenant in the Lexington alarm. He was commissioned ist Lieutenant in May, 1775, in General Wooster's first regiment and served at the siege of Boston, was discharged in Dec., 1775.
As Captain he marched his company against Gen. Tryon at the New Haven alarm on July 5th, 1779. He served as Captain in the second militia regiment and was an officer of a volunteer company that joined Washington at Boston, and afterwards was captain of minute men. He was appointed Captain of the 18th company or trainband in the Eight Connecticut regiment in October, 1779. (Conn. Records, Vol. 2, p. 420. ) He was in several conflicts de- fending New Haven and the coast along the Sound as far as New York. He commenced business in what is now Seymour in 1757, afterwards removed to Hartford and from thence back to Little River, where he purchased lands and built shops and houses. He
250
SEYMOUR PAST AND PRESENT.
was noted for his shrewdness, enterprise and strength of mind. He was prominent in the business transactions of the town.
CAPT. JOHN WOOSTER,
Was a descendant of Edward Wooster, who was born in Eng- land in 1622, was among the settlers of Milford in 1642, and came to Derby in 1644. Capt. John was one of the three who purchased Rimmon Falls and the land adjacent from the Indians, Joseph Chuse and John Houde in 1760. He kept an inn at the angle of the Oxford road and the Park road and inclosed several hundred acres on the hills west of his house for a deer park.
That he was the owner of slaves, as was common in these times, is evident from the record of a town meeting held in Novem- ber, 1780, when it was "voted that the authority and selectmen be impowered and directed to give certificates to Capt. Daniel Hol- brook and Capt. John Wooster to free and emancipate their serv- ants, Negro men, on the condition that the said Negro men inlist into the State Regt. to be raised for the defence of this state, for the town, one year."
HARPIN RIGGS,
Born in what is now Seymour Dec. 9, 1813 was a son of John H., and grandson of Capt. John Riggs, a captain in the Revolution- ary war. John H. Riggs married Mary Beecher and settled on Bungay, his son Harpin following in the occupation of the old homestead. He held at various times the offices of selectmen, jus- tice of the peace and member of the board of education. He was a man of strong convictions and consistent beliefs, and was for nearly half a century a member of Trinity church. In 1840 he mar- ried Harriet Upson. They had seven children : John H., of Sey- mour ; Royal, of Derby; Louise B., married Norman Sperry ; Sarah, married George A. James ; Hattie I., married Joseph G. Redshaw ; and Mary, married Gilbert E. Osborne. He died Jan 26, 1900, aged eightysix years.
JOHN W. STORRS.
A native of Woodbridge but a resident of Humphreysville from early youth, he learned the trade of shoemaker under his fath- er's instruction: He was appointed postmaster in the spring of 1850, on the death of George Lum, who had first been appointed
251
BIOGRAPHY.
by President Taylor. He held that position until the appointment of Mr. Betts under President Pierce in 1853. Soon after he started the Seymour Independent, which continued about two years. In 1857 he removed to Birmingham and in 1858 he took editorial charge of the Derby Journal and was afterward connected with other papers. He was the author of a history of the Twentieth Connecticut Volunteers, which was said to be the best regimental history ever published in the state. He was well known as a poet of much ability. The following verses written by him show his be- lief:
"What shall you say of me ? This if you can That he loved like a child and lived like a man : That with head that was bended he reverent stood In the presence of all that he knew to be good ; That he strove as he might with pen and with tongue To cherish the right and to banish the wrong ; That the world was to him, as he went on his way. As the bud to the flower ; as the dawn to the day That he knew was to come. E'en say, if you can, That he labored and prayed for the crowning of man As king of himself, that the God that he knew Was the God of the many as well as the few -- The Father of all. Write, then, if you must. Of the errors that came with the elay and the dust ; But add-as you may, perhaps-to the verse, For his having lived in it the world was no worse."
HENRY B. BEECHER
Was the son of Lewis and Martha B. Beecher of Southbury, and was a descendant of Isaac Beecher, one of the early settlers of New Haven, among whose descendants were numbered Rev. Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn.
He was one of the "Six Partners" who in 1847 organizedunder the name of French, Swift and Co., all being skilled in the manu- facture of augers and bits. He became the sole owner in 1866 and was the last survivor of the firm.
He was for years one of the trustees of the Methodist Episco- pal church and was a liberal contributor to the various departments of church work. As a trustee he was prudent and kindly in coun- sel, seeking only the best interests of the church, with the same good judgment which had characterized him as a successful business man. He died Sept. 24, 1880.
252
SEYMOUR PAST AND PRESENT.
DR. JOSHUA KENDALL
Came to Seymour in 1832, as a young physician. He was born in Tioga county, Pa., in 1806. He was a practicing physi- cian here for more than half a century. He was appointed postmaster in 1841 and in 1849 he was a member of the General Assembly as representative of the town of Derby, which then included what is now Seymour. He was also county com- missioner for one year, in the 'forties. For about fifty years he was officially con- nected with the schools as acting school visitor, and after the consolidation of the districts in 1868 as a member of the board of education.
WARREN FRENCH,
Son of Walter French, who first introduced the manufacture of augers into this place, and was for many years a leader in this line of manufacture, was born in Ashford, Nov. 10, 1804. He, with his brother Wales, carried on the business for a time in a shop oppo- site the upper works of the James Swan Company, and was after- ward for many years one of the "Six Partners" in the same business.
His parents were members of the Episcopal church, and his first recollections of attending Sundayschool were in the Union Episcopal (now Trinity ) church, where many of the children came barefoot and sat on slab benches. He was early confirmed a mem- ber of that church, but in 1837 he joined the Methodist church, of which he remained ever after a consistent and zealous member. For nearly forty years he was one of the trustees of the church, was president of the board in 1873-4, and was one of the building com- mittee appointed by the trustees to secure the erection of the pres- ent parsonage. His ability as exhorter induced the quarterly con- ference to license him as local preacher, an office which he filled with honor, and without compensation, as long as his health per- mitted, preaching at Great Hill, Beacon Falls and other places where the churches were not sufficiently strong to support regular pastors. He was superintendent of the Sundayschool in 1849, was a class leader, and was one of the most liberal contributors for church work. He died June 16, 1881.
20 lar
Le Ply at
his
Cacu
age bec
Lit Eve of Der
253
BIOGRAPHY.
A. G. DE WOLFE.
Alva Goodrich DeWolfe was born in the town of Morris, in Litchfield county, Aug. 25th, 1810. He was the youngest of the five children of Levi and Hulda ( Stanley) De Wolfe. The father of Hulda Stanley served in the Revolution, and being taken a pris- ner, died while confined in one of the New York prison ships.
The boyhood of A. G. De Wolfe was spent in Morris, where in his father's shop, he gave the first evidence of his strong perceptive faculties and great mechanical skill. When but fourteen years of ige he built a lathe without having one to pattern after, and soon became very skillful in work on guns, watches and machinery, in the employ of A. Hart, clock manufacturer. He next went to Plymouth Hollow, where he was engaged by Eli and Henry Terry, at that time making wooden clocks, and for five years was their toolmaker and general machinist.
When twentyone years of age, in the fall of 1831, he started to go to Havana, Cuba, to build and set up Jennings' camphene street amps. He sailed on a brig from New York, which experienced heavy seas off Cape Hatteras, which damaged the vessel, but it inally reached Charleston harbor in safety. Here his plans were changed, and went to Georgetown, S. C., where he worked in a
254
SEYMOUR PAST AND PRESENT.
gun shop. In the summer of 1832 he came to New York, where h was employed in the manufacture of philosophical, mathematica and nautical instruments.
In 1837 he was again at Thomaston, where he arranged the machinery in the Terry shops for the manufacture of woolen goods He afterward built machinery for Seth Thomas, of the same place for making brass clocks and remained there several years. In 1846 he moved to Springfield, Mass., where he was associated with others in the Wasson Car Works. In 1850 he went to Harlem, where he established a machine shop, and began his work as a builder of machinery for working rubber, which led him into his later avocation, in which he attained distinguished success. In 1853 he devised a method of pressing hard rubber goods into shape, which was suc- cessfully applied by the Novelty Rubber Company to the manu- facture of rubber buttons, etc. This industry was established at Beacon Falls in 1855, with machinery arranged by Mr. De Wolfe. This company soon moved to New Brunswick, N. J., where he also went for a short time.
In this work he had been associated with Mr. Goodyear and other inventors and experimenters on rubber and as an expert in this work he went to Beacon Falls in 1856, but was soon after en- gaged by Mr. A. G. Day to take charge of his works in Seymour. He was very successful in the difficult process of cleaning the rub- ber, as well as in other departments of the business.
About 1860 he began experimenting upon the insulation of wire, to cover it by machine process. This work was well under way when the mill was burned in 1864. It was soon rebuilt and sup- plied with better machinery, much of it constructed by Mr. DeWolfe. Several patents were awarded him and his inventions have been of great benefit in rendering more safe and efficient the transmission of electric currents. He died Aug. 10, 1896.
Mr. DeWolfe was married in 1839, to Lucy Ann Hotchkiss, of Watertown, Conn., who died Sept. 4th, 1857. His family consists of five daughters, all living, Hulda, married W. Lea Roberts ; Eliz- abeth, married Charles Sears, of New York ; Maria, married James Barber, deceased; Helen, married Joseph Ineson, deceased, and for her second husband, John Jackson, of Ansonia ; and Frances, who married W. R. Brixey.
255
BIOGRAPHY.
DR. ABIRAM STODDARD
Was born in Watertown. Jan. 27, 1777, graduated at Yale in 1800. He afterward attended medical lectures at the medical de- partment of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, where he received the degree of M. D., riding from his home in Water- town to Philadelphia and back on horseback. He settled in Sey- mour in 1804 and had a large practice. He was a man of great energy, though very eccentric. He was active in politics and was twice elected to the General Assembly, from Oxford in 1814, his home being then north of the Oxford line, and from Derby in 1826. He was a Democrat, the other party being then known as Federal.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.